The mood among investors at MIPIM was mixed: we all expected that the beginning of this year would not be rich in transactions and new projects, and it is true - we are seeing an investment slowdown across Europe, writes Marcin Purgal, Senior Director, Investment at Avison Young. However, in this time of uncertainty, we can say that Poland is enjoying and will continue to enjoy the interest of investors - it is one of the most active markets, across all segments, offering higher rates of return than Western Europe. We have an influx of new capital from the Baltic countries and Scandinavia. Also, the already present capital is still active, such as investors from Central and Eastern Europe as well as a few from Western Europe.

Heimstaden Bostad has established a combined green and sustainability-linked financing framework to enable the issuance of green and sustainability-linked financing instruments.

Office leasing volumes in Timișoara amounted to 51,400 sqm during 2022, which was more than half of the total deals closed in regional cities. Iași and Cluj-Napoca were next with volumes of 26,700 sqm and 15,200 sqm, respectively, while in Brașov office leasing covered 5,900 sqm. 

The new investment is a continuation of the Resi4Rent Warsaw Woronicza project. It is a 5-story building with 344 subscription apartments.

The 4-star K+K Elisabeta hotel located in the Bucharest city center has been sold to Lorand and Zsuzsanna Szarvadi, the owners of the Balvanyos Resort & Spa in Covasna for an undisclosed sum. 

Panattoni has completed a new build-to-own development for DHL Parcel. The new owner will be making use of a cross-docking centre with an area of almost 9,000 sqm, which the company acquired late last year. The development in Kostrzyn is yet another built-to-suit centre constructed by Panattoni for the DHL group and yet another in the Wielkopolska region.

Retail centres face pressure from different angles and most of them have started refurbishment programs including energy efficiency investments. Is that enough or do they need to invest more to keep up? Property Forum asked Judit Balatoni, Secretary General of the Hungarian Council of Shopping Centres (HCSC) about the ways operators meet current challenges.

The Czech branch of Knight Frank is expanding its portfolio of services. Until now, the company has focused on the commercial real estate segment, with the new addition of residential real estate services. The newly established department is headed by Kateřina Poláková, who has extensive experience in sales and marketing management in the residential segment, the company announced.

With scheduled retail deliveries of around 260,000 sqm across Romania, this year may turn out to have the heaviest pipeline calendar since 2011, which would add to the existing stock of more than 4.1 million sqm, according to real estate consultancy Colliers. 

Nearly all players in the commercial real estate market share the view that the pressure is growing on corporate leaders to have an ESG-compliant stock and operation. But the majority of them stop at „E” i.eg. being more energy efficient and environmentally friendly. This was one of the takeaways of last week’s Budapest ESG Meetup, organized by Property Forum in partnership with workcloud24.